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Grady Hendrix is a new to me author, and one of my reading goals this year is to push myself outside my usual genres. This is horror, but not in the way I expected. I didn’t need to read it only in daylight or panic freeze it mid chapter (Joey from Friends style). That said, there are still plenty of moments that are deeply unsettling and genuinely horrific.
It’s set in the 1970s, which is honestly not that long ago, and it’s unsettling to realise that unwed pregnant girls were being sent away by their families to give birth in secret, expected to hand over their babies and then return home as if nothing had happened. That reality alone is horrifying, and that this happened within living memory makes the story hit harder.
It’s also a bold choice for a white, 50 plus male author to tell a story centred on these girls, but Hendrix navigates the subject well.
We follow Neva, who is 15, pregnant, scared, and sent to Wellwood House. She’s stripped of her identity, given a new name, and told never to speak about her past or how she ended up there. No one explains what to expect beyond the fact that she will give up her baby.
At Wellwood, Neva befriends Rose, Zinnia, and Holly. When the old librarian on the mobile library gives her a book on witchcraft, the girls decide to lean into this power as a way to reclaim control over their bodies, their choices, and their lives.
However, there’s always a price to be paid … and it’s usually in blood.
It’s a thought provoking read.